For most people, buying a diamond is a new experience, but that doesn't mean it should be overwhelming. Understanding a diamond's quality characteristics is straightforward and simple.

Blue Nile's diamond education is designed to answer all your questions. It explains a diamond's characteristics, how those characteristics influence appearance, and which are more important than others. In just a few minutes you'll know everything you need to know to find your perfect diamond.

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Diamond Education: The Four C's This short tutorial explains the Four C's- cut, colour, clarity, and carat weight - the most important characteristics of buying a diamond.

As the name suggests, shape (round, princess, radiant, etc.) describes a diamond's form, primarily as viewed from above. All diamond shapes have different attributes, but overall the beauty of the individual shapes is a matter of personal taste.more

Almost all diamonds have tiny imperfections. Diamonds with few or no imperfections receive the highest clarity grades.more

The cut of a diamond determines its brilliance. Put simply, the better a diamond is cut, the more sparkle it will have.more

This is the term with which people are most familiar, but bear in mind that carat is specifically a measure of a diamond's weight.more

A diamond's colour grade actually refers to the lack of colour. In other words, diamonds that are white, containing little or no colour, receive higher quality grades than those with visible colour.more

Our quality standards are among the highest of all jewellers. As the largest online diamond retailer, Blue Nile offers the largest collection of the world's finest cut diamonds. Pre-selected for exceptional quality, the cut, colour, and clarity of our loose diamonds are evaluated based on a standardized grading scale. Also, each loose diamond is accompanied by a grading report from either GIA or AGSL, independent diamond grading labs with the most stringent grading scales of all labs.